


Family Bonding

by Kay (sincere)



Category: Bleach
Genre: Family Feels, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 14:28:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3071567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sincere/pseuds/Kay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Orihime is accidentally left sitting at the Kurosaki house while Ichigo has been dragged off to work without warning, but she doesn't mind. She loves spending time at the Kurosaki house.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family Bonding

Contains Orihime being adorable. Surprise! This time she's being adorable about family. Specifically, Ichigo's. Written for the [](http://fic-promptly.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**fic_promptly**](http://fic-promptly.dreamwidth.org/) prompt, "Orihime and Karin/Yuzu/both, [she wants to feel like a big sister](http://fic-promptly.dreamwidth.org/285450.html?thread=10554634#cmt10554634)"

**.family bonding.**  
Orihime was in love with Ichigo's home.

And him too, of course, but that soul-deep certainty was impossible to compare to the yearning she felt all the way to her core when she sat in his kitchen and listened to the voices of his father and his sisters. The bustling of life and activity was all around her, and the sounds of cooking and the muffled phone conversation in another room filled her with a sense of peace that she didn't find in her own empty apartment.

Karin jogged over to the counter and pulled off her baseball cap, reaching up to shake out her hair. She frowned at Orihime. "You don't have to wait for him here, you know. You can go up to his room."

As tempting as it was to go up there and bury her face in his pillow while no one could see her, Orihime shook her head vigorously. "No, no, it's okay! I'm fine waiting right here."

"Well, I disagree!" Yuzu pronounced, stepping out of the kitchen with a mixing bowl still in hand. "I can't _believe_ Oniichan forgot you were coming over!"

"Believe it. He's an idiot. Are these for us?" Karin asked, pointing at the basket of pastries and breads on the table next to Orihime.

"Yes! Have as many as you like. But Yuzu-chan, it's not his fault, really. I should've reminded him that I was coming over, and I don't think he was scheduled to work today, sometimes his boss just shows up at school and--"

"That's no excuse!" Yuzu insisted fiercely. "He's _awful_ for making a pretty girl wait around like this."

Karin agreed, "He's never going to get a girlfriend."

Orihime flushed red all the way to her hair, she was sure, and she held up her hands pacifyingly. "N-- Now, that's not true. But I'm happy to get to spend some time with you two!"

The twins both looked at her as if surprised to hear it. "Really?" Yuzu asked tentatively.

"Of course!" Orihime said, and she lowered her arms again, gripping the seat of her chair self-consciously. "I'd hoped that -- you know, we could be friends."

She felt shy saying it. It wasn't quite the truth, because while she liked Ichigo's sisters and would be happy to be closer friends with them, she'd secretly _hoped_ that they might come to see her as a big sister.

Not because they were _Kurosaki-kun's_ family, but because they were Kurosaki-kun's _family_. She thought she'd have felt the same way even if they'd been Tatsuki-chan or Ishida-kun's sisters, but almost everyone she knew was an only child.

She'd never had anyone to take care of. Sora had always been the one to take care of her, and she'd been alone after he died. She wondered what it would be like to have little sisters or brothers to look after the way Sora had done for her.

After a beat of considering her proposal of friendship, Karin said, "Ryohei's going to flip." She took a bite out of a chocolate pastry.

Yuzu smiled at her warmly. "I think that would be really nice, Orihime-san!" She went back into the kitchen to continue her cooking, although Orihime overheard her muttering, "It doesn't make Oniichan working while you're here any better, though."

"Who's Ryohei?" Orihime asked Karin.

Karin settled down at the table, pulling her hair up into a ponytail. "A friend of mine from school," she said. "He's a pervert."

Orihime wasn't sure what _that_ had to do with anything, but she giggled a little, self-conscious. "Well, I'm sure he has his good qualities..."

"Not really."

She was a lot like her brother. Orihime smiled at her warmly and said avidly, "I know a lot of perverts! Most of them are very good people when you get past that."

Karin glanced up at her as if trying to judge whether or not she was serious. Then she looked down at her bag, pulling out a notebook. "I have homework to do," she said slowly.

"For what class?"

"Biology."

Orihime perked up, pleased to be able to contribute something. "If you need any help, you can ask me! I did really well in biology. I made up a song about single-celled organisms and I still remember everything about them."

Karin stared at her again, wearing the same look she'd had when Orihime had proposed they should be friends. "A song about single-celled organisms?"

Determinedly, Orihime began to chant, "We start with pro-ka-ry-otes--"

"Okay, you don't have to sing it, I believe you." Karin returned her attention to her notebook, and admitted, "I guess if I have any questions -- there's no reason I couldn't ask you."

That was almost certainly the best she was going to get. Orihime nodded her agreement, reaching for a piece of sweet bread to nibble on for herself. It would be best if she gave Karin some quiet to study, she thought, so she wasn't going to say anything more for a while, but Karin spoke up first.

"You know -- you like cooking and baking and that sort of thing, right? You could go join Yuzu in the kitchen," the younger girl said, looking at the doorway.

She was being shooed, and it stung a little. She'd wanted to make a good impression, or at least make herself useful. Orihime hesitated a beat, trying to decide if she wanted to defend her ability to sit quietly or should just go to the kitchen in shame for not doing so sooner, and then she got to her feet, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly. Shame was the best course of action. "Oh! Yes, that's a good idea. I make almost all my own meals, so I bet we could probably teach each other a few things -- I'll go right now."

Karin looked her in the eye measuringly, and then said, "I didn't mean it like _that_."

She was intuitive like her brother, too. Orihime waved it off, laughing. "Don't worry about it! I know you're trying to concen--"

"It's just that Yuzu doesn't really have anyone to talk about girly stuff like that with." Karin averted her gaze again, sending her pen spinning in a neat spiral with a flick of her fingers. "She doesn't really have any girl friends, you know."

"Oh..." Orihime softened, reluctant. "I didn't know. Why? She's so sweet."

Karin watched the pen slow down. "Well -- no one said the girls at school are smart."

She was holding something back, and suddenly Orihime thought back to her own childhood. "Do they pick on her because of her hair?" she asked quietly. Ichigo was fairly infamous in Karakura so she'd assumed that Yuzu's classmates would know that orange hair ran in her family... but Orihime knew how middle school girls could be.

Karin snorted, her lip curling. "Not when I'm around," she returned, the finality of her tone unmistakable.

Orihime smiled. "Tatsuki-chan didn't let anyone pick on me, either."

"What, _you_? Seriously?" Karin's eyebrows lifted. "But you're--" She gestured in Orihime's direction, waving at her from head to toe.

Orihime paused a beat. "What?"

Another beat passed, and then Karin shook her head, letting out an exasperated breath. "...Never mind. I just didn't think anyone got on your case about your hair. You're super popular at the high school, everyone knows that."

"I wasn't always." Those memories felt long ago now, far away from the person she was today, like the knowledge of what her parents had been like. They didn't hurt anymore. But she felt warm -- pleased, maybe, that her experience might mean something to these girls she wanted to like her. That maybe she could help them, somehow. "Tatsuki-chan made sure everyone treated me well, and I guess they figured out that I was a good person after they got used to it."

Karin spun the pen around again, and then she gave Orihime the faintest hint of a smile -- the first one Orihime could recall seeing from her. She admitted, "I always thought Tatsuki was pretty awesome. ...Don't tell anyone about Yuzu, though."

"I won't." Orihime pumped her fist, flush with energy and enthusiasm. "I'll go give her some cooking advice! I have lots of great ideas."

"Cool. Thanks."

Orihime hummed as she went into the kitchen, daydreaming about being adopted by the Kurosakis and living the life of a perfect family unit until the forbidden love of brother and foster sister tore them apart.


End file.
